On Remembrance Day in 2012, in Toronto, Laila Rashidie and Suraia Sahar held up a banner opposing Canadian military presence in Afghanistan. Coverage by the Toronto Sun questioned whether the two were Taliban supporters.
As settlement in a lawsuit, the Sun has now accepted that the two are not.
A column published in The Sun on November 14, 2012, and an interview that same day on Sun News expressed opinions of Tarek Fatah about a demonstration by the two of you during the November 11, 2012 Remembrance Day Service at Old City Hall, Toronto.
“We acknowledge that your shouts of protest did not occur during the Service’s two-minutes of silence honouring the deaths of members of Canada’s military but only after the police took your banner. As well, you have represented to us that neither of you are Taliban supporters, Islamists or Jihadis, and we accept your word on this.
Having settled that, moving on to other news about Afghanistan, after the fold.
Hamid Karzai had built a large home, within the fortress walls of the Arg, where he would retire.
Having built the home, though, Karzai has now decided that he would like to move into a more modest place.
[I]n a surprise move, Karzai announced Thursday that he won’t be living in the recently completed mansion when he finally leaves office. It’s too large, Karzai told reporters, so he’s opted for a more modest residence among the masses in Kabul.
So what will happen with the new heavily fortified compound (described by the New York Times last year as a 13,000-square-foot “European-style mansion")? It will instead be used as presidential guest house.
A house fit for a king becomes too grand for Afghan President Karzai, Washington Post
Press in Pakistan is highlighting that the Punjabi Taliban has said they are renouncing use of violence in Pakistan.
The banned terrorist outfit Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) Punjab chapter, widely known as the Punjabi Taliban, on Saturday announced to renounce terrorism in Pakistan.
Punjabi Taliban ‘quit’ terror, urge other groups to follow, Daily Times
The statement by the leader of the banned group, Asmatullah Muaviya, calls upon other militant groups to follow suit and also calls upon the government to allow the Taliban, who fled to Afghanistan as a result of Operation Zarb-i-Azb, to return and restart their lives anew.
‘Video message betrays Punjabi Taliban’s weakness’, Dawn
This seems to be an increased factional split in the Pakistan Taliban.
The Tehreek e Taliban Pakistan umbrella group broke into three factions earlier this month after a group of commanders, mainly Mehsud and Wazir tribesmen from North Waziristan, announced they had broken away to form their own group.
Deadly Taliban group gives up armed struggle in Pakistan, Telegraph
The banned Tehrik-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) has rejected an earlier statement by Asmatullah Muawiya announcing an to all attacks by the Punjabi Taliban.
Muawiya was a wrong choice, says TTP commander, The News
Press in Afghanistan is highlighting another part of the story, that the Punjabi Taliban has said that they will continue war in Afghanistan.
The government of Afghanistan reacted towards declaration of war by Punjabi Taliban militants, saying that the government of Afghanistan would not be surprised by such announcements as Afghanistan has been victim of terrorist groups supported by Pakistani intelligence agencies.
The national security council of Afghanistan (NSC) following a statement said the government is aware that Punjabi Taliban have announced for the second time to boost their insurgency activities in Afghanistan while continuing to peaceful campaign in Pakistan.
Afghanistan reacts on Punjabi Taliban’s declaration of war, Khaama Press
The cross-border Balochistan region has seen a complex war, with insurgencies, tribal forces, and government security forces in both nations operating on both sides of the border.
Pakistan is now digging a trench.
Pakistan has rejected Afghan criticism of a 480-kilometer trench its military is digging along their mostly porous border, saying the project is aimed at “effectively” controlling movement of terrorists and flow of drugs and human traffickers into the country.
Pakistani forces are digging a trench more than two meters deep and three meters wide in southwestern Baluchistan province, which shares half of the country’s more than 2,500-kilometer border with Afghanistan
Pakistan Rejects Afghan Criticism of 480-kilometer Border Trench, Voice of America
Hundreds of soldiers from Zhob militia, Qila Saifullah Scouts, Naushki militia, Taftan Rifles, Makran Scouts and Dalbandin Rifles are taking part in digging the trenches. At least 70 excavators, dumpers and other heavy machineries are engaged in digging.
Countering terrorism: FC digs trench along Pak-Afghan border, Express Tribune
The United Nations has taken to twitter, objecting to threats of violence against U.N. election observers.
The United Nations threatened on Saturday to cut aid to Afghanistan if its staff are harassed, responding to tensions surrounding its participation in a drawn-out and bitter investigation into fraud in the still-unresolved presidential election.
The warning came a day after dozens of demonstrators gathered outside the Kabul headquarters of the world body and accused it of aiding vote-rigging.
UN threatens to cut Afghanistan aid if election staff harassed, Reuters
“Intimidation and verbal attacks directed at #UN are not acceptable,” the mission tweeted Saturday. “Threats against #UN = threats against entire international community. If such abuse continues, #UN will be forced to severely limit its activities, reducing its assistance to #Afghanistan and its people.”
In Afghanistan, U.N. fears for the safety of its staff amid growing threats of violence, Washington Post
Washington Post points some fingers in their coverage of the story.
Attah Mohammed Noor, the powerful governor of Balkh province, which includes Mazar-e Sharif, has repeatedly vowed he would lead “a big civil uprising” should Abdullah be denied the presidency because of perceived fraud.
In Afghanistan, U.N. fears for the safety of its staff amid growing threats of violence, Washington Post
The election crisis continues.
Afghanistan is again on edge as a result of the long-drawn-out and disputed presidential election is expected to be announced next week.
The never-ending election, International Tribune
News about the crisis is getting repetitive.
It has become difficult to write about the Afghan elections, not because nothing happens, but because it rarely amounts to anything significant enough to move things on. There are talks between the candidates, press conferences with little news, an audit nearing completion, phone calls from the American president, rumours and unease. The optimism of the first round, now a distant six months ago, has leached away. Instead, three months after the second round and two months after the first visit by US Secretary of State, John Kerry, which secured an agreement between Doctors Abdullah and Ghani for a 100 per cent audit and a ‘national unity government,’ any resolution seems as far away as ever. AAN’s Kate Clark has been attempting to look at where the election is now and how it has changed since the heady days of April.
Afghanistan Elections 2014 (49): Still deadlock, make or break, Afghanistan Analysts Network
In June 2010, the war was not going very well. Newspapers were reporting that it had become America's longest war ever. That a milestone of 1000 Americans killed in combat had been passed. That American casualty rates had risen to be the highest of the war. That operations in Marjah, the first target in the surge, were not meeting expectations.
And James Risen had a front page article in the New York Times. Vast mineral riches had been discovered in Afghanistan.
The United States has discovered nearly $1 trillion in untapped mineral deposits in Afghanistan, far beyond any previously known reserves and enough to fundamentally alter the Afghan economy and perhaps the Afghan war itself, according to senior American government officials.
The previously unknown deposits — including huge veins of iron, copper, cobalt, gold and critical industrial metals like lithium — are so big and include so many minerals that are essential to modern industry that Afghanistan could eventually be transformed into one of the most important mining centers in the world, the United States officials believe.
U.S. Identifies Vast Mineral Riches in Afghanistan, New York Times
Four years later, with the election not going well, LiveScience reports that vast mineral riches have been discovered in Afghanistan.
Despite being one of the poorest nations in the world, Afghanistan may be sitting on one of the richest troves of minerals in the world, valued at nearly $1 trillion, scientists say.
Afghanistan Sits on $1 Trillion in Minerals, LiveScience
Special Inspector General John Sopko says that the U.S. exaggerates progress, to justify its huge investment in Afghanistan. And that the U.S., after thirteen years, lacks a strategy to combat corruption.
Sopko warned that Afghanistan “could well become a narco-criminal state in the near future.”
Despite the widespread graft, the United States has no plan for countering corruption, Sopko said, and some U.S. agencies exaggerate progress in Afghanistan in order to justify the huge American investment there.
“The United States lacks a unified anti-corruption strategy in Afghanistan,” he said. “This is astonishing, given that Afghanistan is one of the most corrupt countries in the world.”
The United States has spent more money in Afghanistan than it ever has spent in any other country, and more than it provided to rebuild Europe under the Marshall Plan after World War II, even with inflation taken into account.
U.S. Inspector: Billions in failed programs wasted in Afghanistan, Miami Herald
An airstrike has killed 14 civilians in Kunar province. Amnesty International says that the U.S. fails to investigate killings of civilians.
The reported killing of 14 civilians, including two children, in a US/NATO airstrike in eastern Afghanistan highlights the urgent need for transparent investigations and justice for civilian casualties caused by foreign troops in the country, said Amnesty International.
A recent Amnesty International report documented how previous incidents where civilians were killed during US/NATO military operations have not been properly investigated. Incidents involving likely war crimes have not led to prosecutions.
Afghanistan: Urgent inquiry needed after new US airstrike increases civilian death toll, Amnesty International
The New York Times catches itself, 35 years ago, being a bit behind the story of the assassination of president Nur Mohammed Taraki, on this day.
Jenny Nordberg, at the Atlantic, reports on girls being passed as boys.
Mehran, age 6, first arrived at her kindergarten in Kabul as Mahnoush, in pigtails and a pistachio dress. When school shut down for a break, Mahnoush left and never returned. Instead a short-haired, tie-wearing child with the more masculine-sounding name of Mehran began first grade with the other children.
Nothing else changed much. Some teachers were surprised but did not comment except to one another. When the male Koran teacher demanded Mehran cover her head in his class, a baseball cap solved the problem. Miss Momand, a teacher who started her job after Mehran’s change, remembers being startled when a boy was brought into the girls’ room for afternoon nap time but realizing, as she helped Mehran undress, that she was a girl. Mehran’s mother Azita later explained to Miss Momand that she had only daughters, and that Mehran went as the family’s son. Miss Momand understood perfectly. She herself used to have a friend at school who was a family’s only child and had assumed the role of a son.
The Afghan Girls Who Live as Boys, The Atlantic